Sunday, September 11, 2011

Here are some pictures of Campbell's first time to eat solids! She had rice cereal mixed with formula and breastmilk and just loved it!! Her favorite thing is to grab the spoon from you and play with it! Enjoy!

I cannot believe my baby is half of a year old!!! That is so crazy to me! It definitely doesn't feel like I had Campbell 6 months ago. It truly feels like yesterday that I was being admitted to be induced on March 7th! These have been some of the best and worst 6 months of my entire life. What is going on with Campbell right now?

Campbell's Stats:*Weight: UGHHH the dreaded weight question. As of Thursday, September 8th at her 6 month well-baby check up, Campbell weighed 13 lbs 11 oz- this puts her a little bit above the 10th percentile! YAY! This is great news because she is actually going up in percentiles! Her eating hasn't gotten a lot better, but I'll discuss that more later.

*Height: 25 inches- about the 25th percentile (maybe a little bit higher). She has only grown one inch since her 4 month appointment, but they didn't seem worried about it. I am a little bit, but I guess I need to trust the doctors.

*Diapers: Size 2 is perfect!

*Clothes: Campbell is wearing 3 month clothes and some 3-6 month clothes, just like last month. The 3-6 month clothes are fitting a little bit better than last month. We are about to grow out of 3 month sleepers.

*Eats: Still eats 6 times a day (every 3 hours) and is offered 5-6 ounces. She still is very inconsistent and will eat between 3-6 ounces, usually 5. We are averaging 22-25 ounces, so you can see we are going down in amount. Very stressful for everyone.At her visit with Dr. Cavender (her GI), he decided he wanted her put on a different formula that is easier to digest. We are now on Gerber Good Start. To be honest, we haven't seen a change in behavior at all and Campbell seems to HATE that formula. I called him a week after we had started it and told him that it wasn't going well and he didn't really seem concerned or have another solution.... Yeah, I was pretty upset about that. Dr. Cortopassi said she is gaining good weight with that formula and to just stick with it.... At her 6 month appointment, we were given the go ahead to start solids (just small amounts and always after her bottle.) We did 3-4 days of rice cereal (which she had already been exposed to in her bottles a while back) and did great! She loved it, but would only take about a tsp or so... We have done one day of oatmeal cereal and it didn't go over that well. She was very gassy and screamed in pain throughout the day. Gluten allergy??? Doctors say it is too early, but I really feel like that might be contributing to her eating issues... I guess time will tell.

*We have started going back to the chiropractor as of last week. The last go around, we were SOO overwhelmed with everything. We had just started on all of these medicines and really were just starting to experience her eating aversion. We just had to stop because we couldn't tell what was and wasn't working because we started everthing at the same time. Well, we have now switched up and increased the dosage of all of her medicines and NOTHING has helped. So, I called Dr. Nicole Ussery at Balance Chiropractic back and she GRACIOUSLY accepted us back. Campbell started back last Wednesday and it was literally like magic. Starting Thursday morning, Campbell started eating 5 ounces at every bottle (it has slowly tapered off since then, but that is what is expected to happen since she needs to be adjusted every few days.) She goes back tomorrow afternoon and I can barely contain myself. I truly thing that the chiropractor might be one of the answers! Thank you, Dana!!

*The poop issues have improved since last month. We went over 3 weeks with Cam pooping around 15 times a day. No wonder the child wasn't gaining weight! We are now going 1-2 times a day! Yay! Maybe the formula is helping?? I have no idea!

*So I never posted about her GI visit. It was informative and helped answer a lot of questions for Clayton and I. He increased the doses of both the Bethanechol and the Prevacid and we are now on the Carafate 3 times a day until she shows improvement. I actually asked for this, and he agreed that he didn't mind her being put on it. It does have high levels of aluminum, but if it helps her eat then we can deal with whatever side effects later on. Some other information he gave us was that he thinks she has a milk protein allergy or sensitivity; he wanted us to wait until 6 months for us to start solids; and he wants us to continue adding probiotics to her bottle. We also asked about vaccinations and if we should break them up because she stops eating after them. He didn't think so because he said her immune response is that her belly gets upset. So, it doesn't matter if she gets 1 or 5 shots, she is going to stop eating. So, why put her through feeling bad more times than not? Makes sense, I guess...

*Campbell is in the midst of having her 3rd cold! At the well-baby visit, Dr. C recommended us taking her out of daycare and getting a private sitter or in home care. He explained that babies with bad reflux tend to have asthma issues later on and that she is showing some signs of that. She also was a little premature. All of that is setting her up for possible RSV this winter. Totally not what we were expecting or wanting to hear, but we will definitely make it happen if it is what's best for Cam. I am actually starting to only work 8-12 or earlier in a couple of weeks, so I will be home with her more. We just felt like it was necessary with her eating issues. So, anyone have any recommendations for private sitters in the Vestavia or Homewood area??

*Unfortunately, Campbell is still showing some possible signs of cystic fibrosis, so we are going for a sweat test on Wednesday morning, which is the test that the use to help test for CF. None of her doctors think that it will show up positive, but everyone wants to rule it out. We are just asking for lots of prayers this week in that this test is negative.

Let's talk about some fun things with Cam!! I'm tired of all of this saddness!!

*Campbell is now consistently army crawling and has started to push up into a quadruped position (on all fours) and is rocking! I think Cam-a-Lam is going to be an early crawler!!

*Still no teeth!!

*Cam has learned the fake cough and will copy you if you start it. She is also using this to her advantage with eating and will fake cough when she is done with eating. She will also blow raspberries at you to let you know she is done eating. I fake laughed at her the other night and she did it back at me... We haven't seen that since! It was hilarious though!

*Still no copying sounds like mama or dada or baba... Dr. C that happens around 9 months. I was a little confused and thought she should have already started that! Whoops!

*Campbell is really good and putting her passy in and out of her mouth, army crawling to get it and sticking it in her mouth, etc. Getting rid of that passy may be our hardest battle ever!!

*Campbell can sit unassisted for a few seconds, but not much longer. We really haven't worked on that with her a lot, so Dr. C said to start focusing on that! We have pulled an old quilt down and kept it in the living room so we can start making this baby sit!

*Campbell LOVES to drink (or pretend to drink) out of cups and suck out of straws. There MIGHT have been a few times that I let Campbell put a straw in her mouth and I saw juice going into her mouth... Another whoops!! =)

*Campbell's favorite thing to do right now is give kisses! She will grab your face with two hands (very aggressively I might add!) and put her mouth on yours with her eyes closed. Occasionally, she will start licking you, hahaha!!!! It is the funniest thing ever to see.

*Speaking of kissing, Campbell had her first kiss ever at daycare a few weeks ago. One little boy in her class, Tucker, is infatuated with her because she is the only baby that doesn't crawl yet (she is significantly younger than the other kids) and will try to crawl on top of her. One day as he was crawling on her, she grabbed his face and started kissing and licking him!!! Their teachers were so excited to tell us when we picked them up! Thankfully, I know his mom, Ashley, and she thought it was hilarious!

*Campbell finally has decided that she LOVES Bella and any other dog for that matter. She gets so excited when she sees Bella and will smile, laugh, and jabber at her. Too bad Bella could care less about Campbell..... While she was still going to Mrs. Leslie's (her sitter this summer), Leslie would get Campbell to eat by letting her pet her pug during eating time. How hilarious is that???

*Campbell loves her lovies (little blankets with a stuffed animal head on it) and won't go to sleep without it. She will suck her passy and stroke the blanket with her eyes closed! It is so cute!!

*Bath time is not the favorite time anymore. She tries to sit up the whole time she is in the baby tub. I think it is time for a little seat for her or to just let her start sitting up in the tub.

*Her eyes are still light blue! Just beautiful!!

*Still not a good napper. Takes 2-3 naps a day at maybe 30 minutes... She sleeps great at night though! 7:15-5:00!

*Likes: Mommy, Daddy, Nonnie, Pop, BELLA, her passy, toys (especially her cat rattle and stacking rings), the exersaucer for short periods of time, tummy time, dancing with daddy, the horsey game, drinking out of peoples' cups, being outside, riding in the stroller, being in public or shopping (LOVES lots of people), pretty much everything... Campbell could win the award for the happiest baby ever. Most people who have met her have never heard her cry!

*Dislikes: EATING, loud screaming (we went to Melissa and Hunter Echols house for the game this weekend and she got very upset every time someone screamed!), being rocked if she doesn't want to go to sleep, the carseat on most days, ummmm getting hurt?? I can't think of anything else that she doesn't like!

About Me

Hi Everyone! Clayton and I were married on September 2, 2006 in Birmingham. In 2007, we bought our first house in Gardendale, AL. We have two dogs, Bella and Charlotte, who are the loves of our lives! Thanks for reading!